Anthropology PhD candidate Lexi Harrison never bares it all when she belly dances for a strip club crowd. She doesn’t have to—she’s that good. Every performance earns money toward her degree, and restores the sense of power that her painful childhood ripped away.

Something is different about tonight. A man whose silver gaze seems to touch her skin beneath her veils. When a rowdy customer crosses the line, he comes to her rescue with the speed of a falcon—complete with wings.

Mikos Tyomni has never seen anyone dance the raqs sharqi like Lexi. Trust his tormentor, Archangel Michael, to put him in close contact with the cause of his downfall: a mortal woman. Particularly this mortal woman. The Defender. He has only thirty days to win her trust before Hell’s deadliest demons attempt the mother of all prison breaks.

No matter how sexy the messenger is, Lexi’s career plans don’t include some crazy idea that she’s the last line of defense against the forces of evil. Until her university mentor’s murder leaves her holding the key to Hell. And fighting a losing battle against a passion with the unholy power to bring down Heaven…

Warning: This title contains a dark and sexy fallen angel, bad-ass demons, a heroine with kick-assitude tossed together with mythology, archeology and a shape-shifting rock with a fondness for the gangsters of the 1920s.

Goodreads Summary

To help me come up with something to write for this blog site (thank you Krystal!), a couple of prompts were given. I thought about them but settled on the one asking me to talk about a specific character and why you (the reader) will love him. I picked Mikos, the hero of Key of Solomon and not just because he’s the hero of this book.I love Mikos. Actually, I love all my heroes and most of them really come out pretty well-formed. And I don’t mean just their bodies. But, there is something to be said for that. Mikos was a bit different. He was always a fallen angel. Besides changing his name several times (sigh. Nothing just stuck), I struggled with his redemption. Oh, not the fact that he wanted it. That was the easy part. I struggled with getting him what he really needed and how to make that work with everything that was stacked against him.Mikos isn’t a whiny hero. He knows he made bad choices in the past and regrets the decisions that led him to Fall. He could have easily gone the route of blaming Lucifer, but he didn’t. He realized no one forced him to Fall; he did that himself because he thought he wanted something.Throughout the story, Mikos learns that sometimes what we want and what we need are two different things. One of my favorite movies is Legion and in it, the Archangel Michael (Paul Bettany – lovely man) says to fellow Archangel Gabriel (Kevin Durand – yummy as Gabriel – he’s a picture), “You gave him what he asked for..I gave him what he needed.” That’s exactly at the core of this story-giving Mikos what he needed.I really enjoyed writing him and discovering what makes him tick. And with this being a series, despite each story having a new hero/heroine, I will get to revisit with Mikos again and again. I hope you enjoy his story, too.And in book 2, I get to write about another delicious hero, one I got to introduce in Key of Solomon but who gets his own story. The charming Texan, Jackson McKay. Imagine a light-hearted, takes nothing serious playboy in a relationship with a demon warrior angel. Sparks will fly and that’s not just the ones from her fingers.

Hi Tracey! Nice to see you here too! :). Zsadist sounds like the type of hero I enjoy. Mikos isn't quite as tortured. I do have a futuristic I'm working on with a very tortured hero. As much as I love Mikos, I think this hero is my favorite. Hmm. Now I just gotta finish that story and get it published. :)

One of my favorites is Merit from the Chicagoland Vampires. I love the way she is her own person regardless of the fact that she is a vampire who was turned without her permission. She makes her own rules and refuses to follow anyone else's :)jwitt33 at live dot com

One of my favorite characters is Anita Blake - she can kick ### with the best of them, be vulnerable, sensual, and funny without meaning to. Thank you for sharing with us today and for the awesome giveaway opportunity. The Key of Solomon sounds like it has all of the elements I like in a good read and I would love to read it:)

@chelseacarson1Wonder Woman! Yes! I love her too. Can't believe I haven't thought about her in a while. I thought there was supposed to be some kind of remake/movie at one point? In all these remakes, I hope they eventually do her. She's definitely classic.